fiddleback

Ballet Arizona recently announced their ’14-‘15 season, and a highlight will be the US Premiere of August Bournonville’s romantic ballet Napoli in February of 2015. Napoli has been performed almost 800 times by the Royal Danish Ballet (RDB) since its introduction in 1842, and it is still performed regularly. Napoli will be staged by Artistic Director Ib Andersen, who joined the Royal Danish Ballet at age 16, and rose to the level of principal dancer by the age of 20. Mr. Andersen has danced leading roles in many Bournonville ballets, including Napoli. In 2013, he restaged Bournonville’s Kermesse in Bruge for the RDB. Sets for the ballet will be on loan from the RDB, so there will be little doubt of their authenticity! Detailed background and history of Napoli can be found at http://www.bournonville.com/bournonville20.html. Ballet Arizona will perform Napoli in conjunction with The Phoenix Symphony at Phoenix Symphony Hall on February 12-15, 2015. (Note: This information is from the hardcopy 2014-2015 season brochure, however it is not yet posted on the company's website.)

Thanks, Helene. By the way, my user name, “fiddleback” comes from the name of a type of maple hardwood. It's a type of maple that has highly curly wood grain; it is what gives the beautiful highly ‘flamed’ look to the back of a quality violin.

My interest in ballet has snowballed over the last couple of years. It started when I watched Black Swan, which seemed to be a captivating combination of fantasy, music, and dance. I quickly got hooked on the Tchaikovsky studio rehearsal music, which led to the purchase of a Paris Opera Ballet Swan Lake Blu-Ray. From there on, it’s been all downhill… I live in Arizona, and my wife and I quickly became fans of Ballet Arizona. We’ve also traveled a bit to see tours of Hamburg Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, and ABT, and we occasionally travel to San Francisco too. We are also looking forward to attending the Frederic Ashton Festival in Sarasota, Florida in May. I especially hope to be able to get the Ballet Arizona section up-to-speed on all of the new and exciting things going on here in Phoenix, and am looking forward to learning from the many forums here!